User Date
Stifen_DYSeptember 03, 2023
BruhfishyDecember 09, 2022
Zalcus20July 19, 2022
BoxCarRacerJuly 16, 2022
DrSpeedJanuary 29, 2022
Stifen_DYJanuary 15, 2022
Zalcus20November 26, 2021

Need for Speed High Stakes Downloads

Empire City HD

Empire City HD
AuthorDriven
Added On November 26, 2021
Views 6,607
Downloads 372
Version High Stakes
Original Track
Favorited 4 times
Average Rating
9.6/10 - 5 votes
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Additional Screenshots

Description

Description

I couldn't find a high-res texture pack for vanilla Empire City that I really liked, so I decided to make my own textures using AI upscaling tools and/or GIMP. Nearly everything has been upscaled or remade to a higher res, including skyboxes and night/weather textures, and some minor texture edits/fixes have been made to the track itself.

The two online tools I use generate their own different look, one giving a cleaner look and the other a kind of gritty look, so I've included both as choices--Clean and Gritty.

You can get an idea of how they look in-game via this video I put together:

https://youtu.be/JVEj0Mfydic

Notes: At some point I updated the pack to include what I thought were the best of the clean and gritty textures into one single package. I must have been lazy, or busy, but for some reason I didn't mention this fact until now, 4 years later...

Additionally, my system recommendations were complete guess work. I just knew you need Modern Patch and more memory than the base game requires in order to play with the mod, and didn't want people commenting that it made their game crash on their '99 retro PC.


(Recommended) System Requirements

NFS4 is an old game but combined with recent modifications to it, it can actually get pretty demanding. Here's some things you will probably need for a smooth experience.

1) Run on VEG's Modern Patch.

- a) Modern Patch is CPU intensive, so it's probably best to have a CPU from within the last ten years.

- b) I'm not sure Modern Patch was meant to run on systems older than Windows 10, which is what I run. YMMV with older OSs.

2) A decent GPU with (probably) at least 256 MB or more of VRAM. 


Instructions

1) Make a backup of your Empire folder found in [your NFS4 installation directory] -> Data -> Tracks.

2) Unzip my mod somewhere and cut/paste the files of your preferred style from their Empire folder into your installation's Empire folder. Overwrite all when prompted.


Permissions

I do not claim ownership or copyrights over anything in this mod; as such, it's free to modify and distribute except where copyrights prohibit.


Credits

See included Readme for a full list of credit.


Visitor Comments

  • tjareth - 3 years ago
    User Date
    Liked
    I've been enjoying your upscaled tracks, every one of them works great except for this one.  When I download the file, it appears only the "Gritty" folder is present.  As well, when I extract it to the appropriate folder and use the track, the images do not look right at all, the surfaces are covered with wild colors and it's clear something isn't right.  Honestly though I'd like to try the "Clean" version.  Can that be made available after all?
    Reply
    • pete9516 - 3 years ago
      User Date
      tjareth3 years ago
      Liked
      It seems that you have done something completely wrong while the installation. Everything worked fine for me. Your problem sounds to me that you've mixed up the track files in some random way. Sounds like textures not matching the track model. But i agree with you that there is only a "Gritty" folder in the download
      Reply
    • tjareth - 3 years ago
      User Date
      Liked
      I started over very carefully.  Replaced the track with its original backup, which worked perfectly.   Then I copied and overwrote the three files in the "Empire" folder of the download into the track folder.  Same result.
      Reply
    • Driven - 16 days ago
      User Date
      Liked

      2 years late to the comment, but oh well. At some point I stealth updated this mod and didn't update the page or Readme, possibly due to laziness/busyness at the time. I've updated the description now, though.

      In the update I combined what I thought were the best/most appropriate textures from the Clean and Gritty packs, and from what I recall, made some improvements to some textures. I don't know why it wouldn't work for tjareth, but I do know that Modern Patch (with the right settings) and potentially the 4GB Patch is/are needed to accommodate all the increased texture sizes.

      Oh, and the combination was truly for the best. Some of the Clean textures looked way too smooth or had other issues, and most of the Gritty textures were more compressed, noisy, or just ugly. So from what I can remember, sometimes I combined the two for a certain look, depending on the texture, and made some other tweaks to make it as high fidelity--and fitting for the design of the track--as possible.

      Reply
      edited by Driven 16 days ago
  • Deleted User - 1 year ago
    User Date
    Liked

    "I'm not sure Modern Patch was meant to run on systems older than Windows 10"

    Works fine on Win7.

    Reply
    • pete9516 - 1 year ago
      User Date
      Liked
      When VEG released his modern patch for nfs4, maybe 1 or 2 years after it, Windows 10 got released so you can be sure that he's developed it on an older OS
      Reply
    • Driven - 16 days ago
      User Date
      EvoX16 days ago
      pete951613 days ago
      Liked
      Yeah, the recommendations were complete guess work. I just didn't want people to think there's no performance hit, because the mod will certainly use up more memory than the base game.
      Reply
    • Doni - 10 days ago
      User Date
      Liked

      I have Windows 10 and works well

      Reply
  • EvoX - 16 days ago
    User Date
    Ronny7715 days ago
    Liked
    Yo the legend is back😎🏁I wanted to say, great interpretation of the classic track!
    Reply
    • Driven - 16 days ago
      User Date
      Paul Spain16 days ago
      EvoX16 days ago
      Ronny7715 days ago
      Liked

      Wow, thanks a lot Evo. Not sure I deserve legend status though... looking at these now, and with how much AI imaging has progressed, I'll bet this and all the other tracks could be done waaay better, while still staying true to vanilla. Regardless, I appreciate the warm welcome. :)

      Reply

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